The format, subtest by subtest

The format question people actually mean is "how long do I get per question", and the honest answer is that it depends entirely on which subtest you are in. The spread is wider than on almost any test of this size.

The published structure

Question counts and minutes come from the Department's Test Structure document, effective 1 January 2026. The minutes-per-question column is ours, divided out from those two published figures. It is arithmetic, not a claim about the test.

Look at the last column rather than the first. English Language Skills gives you 1.33 minutes a question and Mathematics gives you 2.86. The subtest with the fewest minutes on the clock is the one that squeezes hardest, and candidates routinely plan the opposite way round.

What the whole thing adds up to

Sitting all four in one appointment is a little over four hours of testing plus the break. You do not have to. Each subtest is registered separately, so you can split them across appointments and pay per subtest.

The 95 does not include everything on screen

The Department states that the number of questions can vary between versions, and that a version may contain experimental questions that do not count toward your score. It publishes no count for them.

So there is no pretest figure for us to give you, and we are not going to guess one. The practical consequence is the same either way: you cannot identify an experimental question while you are sitting, so answer everything as though it counts.

What is supplied for Mathematics

An on-screen calculator and a mathematics reference sheet are provided during the Mathematics subtest, per the Test Structure document. You do not bring either.

We do not reproduce the reference sheet or list its contents as fact. It is published on the testing vendor's own site, which blocks automated access, and inventing a contents list for a sheet you will actually rely on would be worse than saying nothing. Practice with an on-screen calculator anyway - the input method costs people time on a subtest where they have the most of it to lose.

The essay is a different kind of subtest

One written response to a choice of one to four prompts, in 50 minutes. It is not scored on screen and it is not scored by a machine. At least two independent qualified raters read it at standardized scoring sessions, their scores are summed, and the passing total is 6. That takes about four weeks.

The three multiple choice subtests are scored immediately at the center. If you sit all four together, you walk out knowing three results and waiting on one.

Where the format actually hurts

Our opinion, and it is only an opinion: the format's real difficulty is administrative rather than intellectual. Four separate clocks, four separate registrations, four separate passes, and a scoring lag on one of them. People fail this test on planning at least as often as on content.

The concession is that we cannot prove that. The Department publishes pass rates by subtest, not reasons, and nothing in its report separates a candidate who ran out of time from one who did not know the material.